Course Name: MUS 22111 Understanding Western Music (KFA)
Description: The course will survey the history of Western music using Florence as the backdrop. It will connect music with the history of Florence allowing students to gain an understanding of music through live concerts, visits to museums and by studying the numerous links between Florence’s art, architecture and music. Students will have the opportunity to attend concerts from a variety of periods including a full-length opera. A class period will be spent at the Instrument Museum that displays Cristofori’s first piano (you will also see the David in the same museum!). The course will incorporate the free opera that all students attend into the curriculum. Other free listening opportunities include Gregorian chant at San Miniato, a full mass sung in Latin, with the participation of the Maggio musicale Fiorentino, in occasion of San Giovanni, saint protector of Florence. More options will be available as summer schedule materialize. An optional event will be attending a full length opera in the courtyard of Palazzo Pitti. It is about $24 if we go as a group. By the end of the course students will: 1) Become aware of how music has affected the lives of people throughout the centuries 2) Become aware of music in a variety of different styles 3) Understand the connections between Music Art and Architecture.
Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: None